Our church, being part of the Church of the Nazarene, has 16 pillar beliefs that we call our Articles of Faith:

We believe in one eternally existent, infinite God,
Sovereign Creator and Sustainer of the universe; that He only
is God, holy in nature, attributes, and purpose. The God who
is holy love and light is Triune in essential being, revealed as
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the
Triune Godhead; that He was eternally one with the Father;
that He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and was born of
the Virgin Mary, so that two whole and perfect natures, that
is to say the Godhead and manhood, are thus united in one
Person very God and very man, the God-man.
We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that He
truly arose from the dead and took again His body, together
with all things appertaining to the perfection of man’s nature,
wherewith He ascended into heaven and is there engaged in
intercession for us.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the
Triune Godhead, that He is ever present and efficiently active
in and with the Church of Christ, convincing the world of
sin, regenerating those who repent and believe, sanctifying
believers, and guiding into all truth as it is in Jesus.

We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy
Scriptures, by which we understand the 66 books of the Old
and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, inerrantly
revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary
to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained therein is
not to be enjoined as an article of faith.

We believe that sin came into the world through the
disobedience of our first parents, and death by sin. We believe
that sin is of two kinds: original sin or depravity, and actual or
personal sin.
We believe that original sin, or depravity, is that
corruption of the nature of all the offspring of Adam by reason
of which everyone is very far gone from original righteousness
or the pure state of our first parents at the time of their creation, is averse to God, is without spiritual life, and inclined
to evil, and that continually. We further believe that original
sin continues to exist with the new life of the regenerate, until
the heart is fully cleansed by the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
We believe that original sin differs from actual sin in
that it constitutes an inherited propensity to actual sin for
which no one is accountable until its divinely provided remedy
is neglected or rejected.
We believe that actual or personal sin is a voluntary
violation of a known law of God by a morally responsible
person. It is therefore not to be confused with involuntary
and inescapable shortcomings, infirmities, faults, mistakes,
failures, or other deviations from a standard of perfect
conduct that are the residual effects of the Fall. However, such
innocent effects do not include attitudes or responses contrary
to the spirit of Christ, which may properly be called sins of the
spirit. We believe that personal sin is primarily and essentially
a violation of the law of love; and that in relation to Christ sin
may be defined as unbelief.

We believe that Jesus Christ, by His sufferings, by the
shedding of His own blood, and by His death on the Cross,
made a full atonement for all human sin, and that this
Atonement is the only ground of salvation, and that it is
sufficient for every individual of Adam’s race. The Atonement
is graciously efficacious for the salvation of those incapable
of moral responsibility and for the children in innocency but
is efficacious for the salvation of those who reach the age of
responsibility only when they repent and believe.

We believe that the grace of God through Jesus Christ
is freely bestowed upon all people, enabling all who will to
turn from sin to righteousness, believe on Jesus Christ for
pardon and cleansing from sin, and follow good works pleasing
and acceptable in His sight. We also believe that the human
race’s creation in Godlikeness included the ability to choose
between right and wrong, and that thus human beings were
made morally responsible; that through the fall of Adam they
became depraved so that they cannot now turn and prepare
themselves by their own natural strength and works to faith
and calling upon God.

We believe the Spirit of God gives to all who will repent
the gracious help of penitence of heart and hope of mercy, that
they may believe unto pardon and spiritual life. Repentance,
which is a sincere and thorough change of the mind in regard
to sin, involving a sense of personal guilt and a voluntary
turning away from sin, is demanded of all who have by act or
purpose become sinners against God.
We believe that all persons may fall from grace and
apostatize and, unless they repent of their sins, be hopelessly
and eternally lost. We believe that regenerate persons need not
return to sin but may live in unbroken fellowship with God through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit who bears
witness with our spirits that we are children of God.

We believe that justification is the gracious and judicial
act of God by which He grants full pardon of all guilt and
complete release from the penalty of sins committed, and
acceptance as righteous, to all who believe on Jesus Christ and
receive Him as Lord and Savior.
We believe that regeneration, or the new birth, is
that gracious work of God whereby the moral nature of
the repentant believer is spiritually quickened and given a
distinctively spiritual life, capable of faith, love, and obedience.
We believe that adoption is that gracious act of God by
which the justified and regenerated believer is constituted a
child of God.
We believe that justification, regeneration, and adoption
are simultaneous in the experience of seekers after God and
are received by faith, preceded by repentance; and that to this
work and state of grace the Holy Spirit bears witness.

We believe that sanctification is the work of God which
transforms believers into the likeness of Christ. It is wrought
by God’s grace through the Holy Spirit in initial sanctification,
or regeneration (simultaneous with justification), entire
sanctification, and the continued perfecting work of the Holy
Spirit culminating in glorification. In glorification we are fully
conformed to the image of the Son.
We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God,
subsequent to regeneration, by which believers are made
free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state
of entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love
made perfect.
It is wrought by the baptism with or infilling of the Holy
Spirit, and comprehends in one experience the cleansing of
the heart from sin and the abiding, indwelling presence of
the Holy Spirit, empowering the believer for life and service.
Entire sanctification is provided by the blood of Jesus, is
wrought instantaneously by grace through faith, preceded by
entire consecration; and to this work and state of grace the
Holy Spirit bears witness.
This experience is also known by various terms representing
its different phases, such as “Christian perfection,” “perfect
love,” “heart purity,” “the baptism with or infilling of the Holy
Spirit,” “the fullness of the blessing,” and “Christian holiness.”
We believe that there is a marked distinction between
a pure heart and a mature character. The former is obtained in
an instant, the result of entire sanctification; the latter is the
result of growth in grace.
We believe that the grace of entire sanctification includes
the divine impulse to grow in grace as a Christlike disciple.
However, this impulse must be consciously nurtured, and
careful attention given to the requisites and processes of
spiritual development and improvement in Christlikeness of
character and personality. Without such purposeful endeavor,
one’s witness may be impaired and the grace itself frustrated
and ultimately lost.
Participating in the means of grace, especially the fellowship,
disciplines, and sacraments of the Church, believers grow in
grace and in wholehearted love to God and neighbor.

We believe in the Church, the community that confesses
Jesus Christ as Lord, the covenant people of God made new in
Christ, the Body of Christ called together by the Holy Spirit
through the Word.
God calls the Church to express its life in the unity and
fellowship of the Spirit; in worship through the preaching
of the Word, observance of the sacraments, and ministry in
His name; by obedience to Christ, holy living, and mutual
accountability.
The mission of the Church in the world is to share in the
redemptive and reconciling ministry of Christ in the power of
the Spirit. The Church fulfills its mission by making disciples
through evangelism, education, showing compassion, working
for justice, and bearing witness to the kingdom of God.
The Church is a historical reality that organizes itself in
culturally conditioned forms, exists both as local congregations
and as a universal body, and also sets apart persons called of
God for specific ministries. God calls the Church to live under
His rule in anticipation of the consummation at the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe that Christian baptism, commanded by our
Lord, is a sacrament signifying acceptance of the benefits of
the atonement and incorporation into the Body of Christ.
Baptism is a means of grace proclaiming faith in Jesus Christ
as Savior. It is to be administered to believers indicating their
full purpose of obedience in holiness and righteousness. As
participants in the new covenant, young children and the
morally innocent may be baptized upon request of parents
or guardians. The church shall give assurance of Christian
training. Baptism may be administered by sprinkling, pouring,
or immersion.

We believe that the Communion Supper instituted by
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a sacrament, proclaiming
His life, sufferings, sacrificial death, resurrection, and the
hope of His coming again. The Lord’s Supper is a means of
grace in which Christ is present by the Spirit. All are invited to
participate by faith in Christ and be renewed in life, salvation,
and in unity as the Church. All are to come in reverent
appreciation of its significance, and by it show forth the Lord’s
death until He comes. Those who have faith in Christ and love
for the saints are invited by Christ to participate as often as
possible.

We believe in the biblical doctrine of divine healing and
urge our people to offer the prayer of faith for the healing of the sick. We also believe God heals through the means of
medical science.

We believe that at the end of the age the Lord Jesus
Christ will be revealed as Lord of all. He will come again in
glory and power to establish fully the kingdom of God that He
proclaimed and initiated in His life and ministry. As the Triune
God first created heaven and earth, God will renew them in the
new creation where He will dwell eternally with His redeemed
people. We who are alive at His coming shall not
precede them that are asleep in Christ Jesus; but, if we
are abiding in Him, we shall be caught up with the risen saints
to meet the Lord in the air, so that we shall ever be with the
Lord. In that day, God, who in the cross triumphed over all evil
powers, will complete His loving purposes for creation. There will
be no more suffering, injustice, or death, and God will wipe away
every tear.

We believe in the resurrection of the dead, that the
bodies both of the just and of the unjust shall be raised to life
and united with their spirits—“they that have done good, unto
the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation.”
We believe in future judgment in which every person
shall appear before God to be judged according to his or her
deeds in this life.
We believe that glorious and everlasting life is assured
to all who savingly believe in, and obediently follow, Jesus
Christ our Lord; and that the finally impenitent shall suffer
eternally in hell.

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